Amitabh Shukla
Congress will soon have a new address, but its location on the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg is making many a party worker uneasy.
The ruling party does not want to associate its headquarters with the name of Upadhyay, the Jan Sangh ideologue, revered by the BJP and the Sangh Parivar alike. Party managers are busy in finding ways and means to circumvent the problem with sources saying that the entrance of the party headquarters could be located on a side road, called Kotla Road.
This would help avoid the name of Deen Dayal Upadhyay on all official stationary and communication of the party, which is 125 year old now. Party president Sonia Gandhi had laid the foundation of the new headquarters on December 28, 2009 the foundation day of the Congress.
"At present, our headquarters is on Akbar Road, which is named after an emperor who was the harbinger of secular politics. The new address is slightly problematic," said a party leader.
The new headquarters would be the permanent address of the party as the present AICC headquarters at 24 Akbar Road, is being handed over to the Directorate of Estates, Ministry of Urban Development.
The Congress' decision to move from the present address came following a Supreme Court directive to all political parties to shift their offices from Lutyen's Delhi to the institutional areas of the city.
24 Akbar Road was the bungalow alloted to late AICC general secretary G K Moopanar who handed it over to the party soon after it lost power for the first time at the Centre in 1977. The AICC headquarters earlier used to be at 5, Rajendra Prasad Road which was abandoned by the party after the 1977 defeat. Before the 1969 split, the AICC headquarters used to be on 7, Jantar Mantar road, currently having the head office of the Janata Dal (United).
It had been there since the days of independence after being shifted from Anand Bhawan in Allahabad, the bungalow which Moti Lal Nehru donated to the party. Though the party built the swanky Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan in the 1990s, to be used as party HQ, it did not shift there and its activities continued from 24, Akbar Road. The building is now used by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.
After the inauguration of the Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, the party had lost the 1989 elections.
It is learnt that the new HQ would be a modern building with a convention centre and separate rooms to house offices of general secretaries and secretaries. Offices will also be there for frontal organisations of the party.
A large and modern media room would also be part of the building with facilities for uplinking and wi-fi zone for computers. A spacious underground parking lot too has been planned.
(December 6, 2009)
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